There’s a Peanuts movie coming up in November (see trailer from MovieClips Trailers below), and Blue Sky Studios has come up with a clever form of publicizing it: the ability to “Peanutize” yourself. When you visit their Peanuts site, you can create a Peanuts-style character which can then be downloaded as wallpaper or you can share it. You choose a girl or boy, dress ’em up, and plonk them in a plain or Peanuts background. My marketing hat goes off to whoever thought up this site!

I’ve always wondered though….where in the U.S. do Charlie Brown and everybody else live? I’m debating whether it’s the Midwest or New England. It gets cold enough for the local pond to freeze in the winter (from the Christmas special, which I make a point of re-watching during the Christmas season). No visible palm trees, so that rules out Florida (sorry, Floridians), and there’s no desert either (sorry, Arizona and Nevada). There’s also the changing of the seasons (fall trees) and hills but no mountains, so that rules out some other geographic areas.

I’m thinking a medium to mild climate. Snoopy doesn’t seem too affected by the changing of the seasons. I imagine that in cold weather, Snoopy’s got quite the set-up inside his doghouse….reclining chair, TV set, refrigerator….heck, maybe even a smartphone or iPad.

On December 9, the Peanuts Christmas special officially turns 50 years old. Wow. There’s a great story I once read about Charles Schulz. On a trip to Austria, he visited Beethoven’s grave in Vienna and had some Peanuts items with him. He was about to put one of them down and a little girl asked him, “Wo ist Schroeder?” (“Where is Schroeder?”) Schulz decided to put down Schroeder, figuring that Schroeder should pay proper tribute to his muse.

Readers, tell me: Who is your favorite Peanuts character or which character do you most identify with? Where in the U.S. do you think Charlie Brown and the others live? Let’s discuss.

It looks and feels more like the Northeast to me – but since I am from Canada, it could be anywhere in Ontario. I think the essence of the strip is that is is “Anywhere USA” except for the whole winter thing which rules out about 1/2 your country.

Wow! An updated Peanuts. I was an incredible fan as a kid. Collected their books, and foolishly gave them away thinking I had outgrown them. Obviously not. And it’s Snoopy. He’s a writer I unfortunately relate to–positively keeps persevering no matter the rejection.